“Why Loiter?” is a transformational
book. It suggests that women must fight for the unconditional right to access
public space. It is surprising how we, as women, have got so accustomed to
justifying our presence in the public space that it is now internalized in our
systems.

If we
are waiting for a friend on the road, we would rather wait at the bus stop or
fiddle with mobile phones, all to imply that either we are waiting for the bus
or busy with some important call or message. Why can’t we loiter? Why can’t we be unapologetic about having
fun in public space, and also not judged? Quoting from the book “..when there are visible public
attacks on women, the discussions inevitably focus on how the women could have
prevented it. Clothing is the first target: its length, width, cut and even
colour are debated in the blame game of national sexual politics…”

It is a common
perception that ‘Bombay girl’ is having most fun. It is a benchmark for almost all
women across India, to live
life like a Bombay
girl. You really sit up and notice when the authors tell you why they chose
Mumbai to offer their arguments: “For if this is the standard of access to
public space in the country, then perhaps we lack both ambition and
imagination.”

This book “draws on the findings of a
three-year-long research project, the Gender and Space project that focused on
women and public space in Mumbai to demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that
despite the apparent visibility of women, even in urban India, women do not
share equal access to public space with men.” The problem is women have
accepted their marginalization in the public space.

Here are some standout points and thoughts from the
book, which may compel you to read it:

‘Loitering’ is considered frivolous. Demonstration of purposeto justify being in public space is important at all times. Even feminists who fight for women’s rights are wary about right to loiter because it will impact the seriousness of their work.

Poor infrastructure like lack of or significantly
less number of public toilets, toilets which have been insensitively designed
and many times closed during nights, poor road lighting, poor transport
facilities etc further impacts the usage of public space by women.

Public spaces should be designed to maximize
engagement. “One key obstacle in the good design of public spaces is the
assumption of a neutral universal user of space….the ‘neutral’ user is usually
male.”

Fighting for
unconditional right to access public space is a larger issue than focusing on crime
against women in public space. Because when you focus on the crime, the access
for women is further reduced, women start living a more protected and
chaperoned life. Because then people start focusing on why you were there in
the first place? With whom? Wearing what? Doing what? The struggle against violence and the quest for pleasure cannot
be separate things.

The society is obsessed with controlling women’s
movement. But the concern is more about the reputation and family honour rather
than their physical safety per se.

Supposedly safe places for women like malls or
cafes are really private-public spaces and you need to have a certain
consumption power to be able to enjoy that space.

In the global vision of
the city, women, old people, disabled, poor and people from certain religion do
not feature. It
raises questions on rights to citizenship. Why should a city be claimed / owned
only by a specific group?

How we lament flourishing malls and vanishing
parks! How our weekends are spent at malls in consumption rather than doing
nothing in public spaces. Perhaps that is what global city is all about.
Loitering is a threat to that dream global world. You must consume all the
time.

Then who is having fun? Muslim Girls? Rich Girls?
Slum Girls? Working Girls? Night Girls? Can Girls Buy fun? Differently-abled
girls? Homosexual Girls? Old Girls? The authors have dissected and concluded that no
matter what the social status, economic class, age or orientation, their ‘fun’
is always conditional. Nobody is having unadulterated, pure fun.

Of course, there are many more arguments,
well-represented in the book. So, read it.

I highly recommend it to every girl, every woman.
Read it, if you can. And why only girls? Everyone should read it. It brings
forth a strong argument and thought-provoking perspective. And men should also
read it to understand how women in their lives negotiate access to public space
on daily basis.

Kareena Kapoor, though not really a trend-setter, is almost
always well-dressed. I noticed her experimental and interesting styling during
the promotions of ‘Heroine’. Earlier, her Manish Malhotra dresses and saris were
fashionable but they never stood out. To her credit, she did spark media frenzy for Size Zero because it was too drastic and shocking, considering she was chubby earlier.

The book has high production value (like a coffee table book)
with lots of glossy pictures, although I am not such a huge fan of the cover
page image of the lady (it looks ghostly/ pallid and not diva-esque). The font
size on the back cover is also too big. But the book makes up with lots of gorgeous
pictures – old and new, published and unpublished, glamorous and simple. The
book also has a lot of doodled drawings which render the feel of a diary. The
pages are in shades of pink.

The book has Kareena’s distinct voice and personality –
unapologetic, undiplomatic and straightforward.It reminds
so much of that line from Jab We Met, which translates to – “I am my biggest
fan” and Kareena Kapoor is! It comes out very clearly in this book as well as
in all her interviews. She has always been extremely confident, even as a
newcomer. The book is chatty, conversational and confiding.

When I first read about this book, I was curious because it was
something new. I don’t remember any other Bollywood actress writing about her
style secrets. Which girl wouldn't want to know the style secrets of a
Bollywood heroine who lives a life of glamour and style, and who is spoilt for
choices?

I would say I have mixed views about this book, and whenever I
feel that way, I jot down ‘what worked for me’ and ‘what did not’, to be fair
to the book and to give an indication to the potential readers on what to expect.

Man Power – snippets from her love life, making your relationship
work, dressing and grooming your man and gifting right to your love

> Snippets from personal life like how she plans her travel, her
favourites, her growing up years, her relationships, creating looks for her
films, preparing for big events, etc.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE

> Repetitiveness, like her favourite destination is Gstaad, she is
a winter person, blessed with good skin and so on and so forth

> Exaggeration about sparking trends on how her looks from movies
and public events were copied soon after. As far as I am aware, Kareena can
take credit for Size zero frenzy and Long kurta with Patiala from the movie Jab We Met (which also was Imtiaz’s idea)

> A lot of common style and fashion tips > Dilution of the main focus of the book : Trying to tell us the
behind-the-scene story on Kareena Kapoor’s styling, and her tricks and tips;
and also trying to be a fashion guide to a normal girl. The book should have
focused on Kareena’s style and her favourites, and not attempt to bring out her
‘normal girl’ side, because there are no parallels between her lifestyle and a
normal young girl’s. We cannot buy those brands or designer wears (forget about
custom-made) neither can we shop on Net-a-Porter.

Frankly, I don’t know what I was expecting from this book because
largely a star is as stylish as her stylist (her stylist, by the way, is Tanya Ghavri).

This book will certainly appeal to Kareena Kapoor's fans. The fashion and style enthusiasts may only end up pointing out the abundance of common information and tips in the book.

All these fashion gyaan surely made me curious about fashion. I am
not too much into fashion and latest trends but surprisingly I follow some fashion blogs, so of
late I have started distinguishing designers and new trends. So, yes, this book
made me excited about fashion because she is around my age. And celebrity or
not, if you don’t experiment now then when? Here's an excerpt from the book.Review Book courtesy: Penguin IndiaImage source: Amazon

Monday, April 1, 2013

‘The
Sense of an Ending’ by Julian Barnes is one of those books which you can read
and re-read, and every time discover something new. The joy of a well-written,
open-ended book is unparalleled. It is amazing how much is packed into this 150-page,
fast-paced work of fiction with a twist at the end (though I got an idea about
the twist somewhere towards the middle).

The
book is divided into two parts. In part One, Tony Webster, now in his 60s, is
trying to recall the memories of his past life. But as he often admits, memory
is not always reliable. He says right at the beginning “… what you end up remembering isn’t always the same as what you have
witnessed.”

Tony,
Alex and Colin formed a clique in school, joined by Adrian later. Adrian was
certainly more serious and intelligent than the rest, expected to win a
scholarship and do well in life. Now retired, Tony considers his own life
ordinary and uneventful – a normal career, single marriage, amicable divorce
and cordial relations with his only daughter. In his twilight years, he says
almost with regret: “I had wanted life
not to bother me too much, and had succeeded - and how pitiful that was.”

He
also talks about his ex-girlfriend Veronica, his attempts to impress her, her
sense of superiority, and his memory of their relationship. The author never
fails to tease you every now and then about ‘memory’ and ‘history’ – that they
are not trustworthy and what we recall from past is just a perception of how
things happened, may be selectively remembered.

Where
part One takes time to establish Tony’s character and the dullness of his life,
part Two is fast-paced till the end. Due to the turn of events, Tony comes in contact with Veronica, and it sparks a slew of memories pertaining to her.
Veronica was an unfinished chapter of his life and now, almost 40 years later,
he felt drawn to her. May be age and time mellowed him to empathize with her.

She
keeps saying to Tony “you just don’t get it”, which some readers may find
irritating but I felt her character is quite complex and I would expect her to
say something like that without offering explanations. On one hand this drives the reader to the wall
while also creating a sense of urgency to uncover the mystery.

The
best part of the book is of course its writing. Despite its number of pages,
the story is never rushed, the characters are leisurely developed, mystery is withheld
and rationed out in bits and pieces creating suspense, phrases are delightfully
crafted and the warmth of subtle humour makes you break into smiles every now
and then. The narrative often gets philosophical but never boring.

Sample
these beautifully constructed phrases:

“the
small pleasures and large dullnesses of home”

“But time...how time first grounds us and
then confounds us. We thought we were being mature when we were only being
safe. We imagined we were being responsible but we were only being cowardly.
What we called realism turned out to be a way of avoiding things rather than
facing them. Time...give us enough time and our best-supported decisions will
seem wobbly, our certainties whimsical.”

Need
I say more? By all means, read it!

Note: I have consciously stayed away from discussing the story, and its twists and turns because reading it without any pre-conceived notions will be much more enjoyable experience, like I had.